Last Friday night was the office Christmas party. I had never been to the office party but given the possibility of the company changing dramatically after this year, the legal team decided to all go this year. So on Friday arvo the team left early (4pm) to The Imperial down Spring Street. I joined them a little later and my boss made it a full legal team and later remarked this was the first year the legal team has a 100% turn up for the office Christmas party.

I’m still not totally au fait with this pre party drinks thing. The party was meant to start at 6pm but from 4pm, many groups of employees have started to have a few beers and by the time we rocked up to the venue (Immigration Museum) we’ve all had a few beers.

I was soon reminded why I don’t like such events. Standing around chatting under a tent with several hundred people, many of whom have been generously plied with alcohol it was hard to hear everything your conversation partner was saying. It was near impossible when the music amped up and the alcohol consumption followed in tandem.

So after a couple of hours I started to get ready to leave. I was glad when I got to Flinders St station and sat on a seat in my train home just after 9pm, as I started texting Tress.

When we got home she showed me the many pieces of men’s clothing she had bought me – all great looking and highly functional. We then sat down to watch an old Angelina Jolie movie (Taking Lives) before going to bed. Or we could have watched the movie on Sat night – I forget now L

On Sat we left home early and visited a Korean grocery store. I had wanted to experiment with a Korean dish so we picked up some stuff to help me have fun. We then went to a butcher and picked up some ribs, then went home to attend to LBJ’s groomer who was scheduled to visit later that morning. When she (Amber) came and the little fellow was safely in the grooming shuttle, Tress and I went out to Madam K’s. We then got home and I did some quick gardening, before firing up the barbie to roast my Korean styled pork ribs, served with kimchi on the side.

That dish went down a treat at Jason’s. Also there were the Hipos. Gerry’s mum was visiting them from Kuching and was also there at the dinner. Joyce an old acquaintance later dropped by but Jason had left her to talk to Tress, Gerry and I. He had told me earlier he had been fending off requests to assist with some government grants for her ventures. I guess he didn’t want to compromise himself and left us as his shield of propriety… when Gerry had to leave just before 10 (his young kids’ bed time) we followed suit and Jason said we’ve had no chance to chat. I thought we did before Joyce came along but maybe he had things he wanted to talk about more in depth.

Sunday after church we had lunch with a new couple who were migrating to Melbourne next year. Mr Chooi had introduced them to us and we caught up to be supportive for this new and big move. They’re highly skilled and talented very friendly and extremely well connected people so for them to leave KL and the networks they have there, must be a big uprooting exercise. As we were driving home later, I said to Tress it’s amazing how after more than 10 years since we moved here, Malaysians – highly skilled, talented and equipped Malaysians – continue to leave Malaysia. It just continues to be sad.

We finally got to go about with our usual chores – did some grocery shopping for the week, went home and cooked our soups, made salad and smoothies before settling down to skype kiddo. It has been raining for nearly 2 days now so we had the excuse not to walk the little fellow and chatted instead with Kiddo, whose Singapore adventure is nearing its end. She would be back in Melbourne soon but only a little while before she heads off to Canberra late Jan next year. Like many say these days, the more things change the more they remain the same.